Luxury Insider

As the first roofless Rolls-Royce in over a decade, it glides over big and small undulations, some of which would be flagged as serious bumps in lesser cars. Yet its finely tuned air suspension and optional 21-inch wheels barely register the existence of these obstacles. And despite this supreme ability to isolate its occupants from imperfections in the tarmac, the Phantom is also a driver’s car par excellence.

The engineers at Goodwood have done an amazing job with the chassis on three counts: stiffness, ride/handling and steering. Because the Rolls-Royce Phantom limousine is built around an aluminum space-frame chassis rather than a pure monocoque, making the open version almost as stiff was not a major performance issue.

The result is a level of structural rigidity unprecedented in modern convertibles, giving the Drophead Coupé the rigid platform to make its steering and suspension work optimally no matter what the road surface. This translates into a drive totally free from scuttle shake and the handling and steering aberrations that usually afflict open cars.

In the real world, this means that once you take its not inconsiderable girth into account, like its limousine brother, the Drophead Coupé feels smaller and more agile on the road than its massive 5,600mm length and 2,620kg weight would imply.

Few owners would hustle on a twisty road like we did when we got slightly off the test route and still had to make our lunch stop on time. It was then that we really came to appreciate the supremely accurate rack and pinion steering, the high levels of mechanical grip in bends, and the superlative poise of the car when driven on twisty roads at a rate of knots most unbecoming for a vehicle of this type.

That said, the 460 PS and 720Nm of torque delivered by its 6.75-liter BMW-derived V12 motor is an irresistible force, deployed seamlessly to the rear wheels through the six-speed automatic gearbox. Although it is 70kg heavier than its limousine counterpart, the Drophead effortlessly flows down the road in a manner that personifies the traditional Rolls-Royce term “waftability”.